Brad Galli had some huge personal news to share.
Galli, who was the WXYZ-TV (Ch. 7 in Detroit) sports anchor, had decided to quit his TV gig.
But he dreaded telling his grandmother, Patricia Galli, who lives in Shelby Township.
“That was one of the most emotional calls that I had throughout all this, just telling my grandma that I wasn’t going to be on Channel 7 anymore,” he said. “She said, ‘Where am I going to see you now?’ She watched Channel 7, and she takes a lot of pride in it. It means a lot to me.”
Galli explained to his grandmother that he had decided to venture out on his own, leaving the comfort and security of the station to become an independent journalist. Now, all of his interviews will run on a YouTube channel called “The Brad Galli Show” and shared on Facebook.
While his YouTube channel already has more than 13,500 subscribers, his new venture is scheduled to go live Monday, June 1.
“But, grandma, you are on Facebook all the time,” Galli told his grandmother. “She goes, ‘Oh, you’re gonna put your stuff on Facebook? Okay, great, I’ll see it all there.’”
Family crisis averted.
Then, Patricia Galli told Brad how his late grandfather, Frank Galli, did something similar, taking a risk and switching jobs.
“She quickly told me a story about my grandpa leaving his job 50-plus years ago, months shy of a getting a pension, to bet on himself,” Galli said. “She said they never looked back with any regret. It brought me to tears, man.”
Why Brad Galli left Channel 7 and broadcast TV
In late May, Galli called me to explain his reasons for leaving TV.
More specifically, he called from his son’s baseball practice, and that sums up one of the main reasons why he wants to leave TV: To have the flexibility to spend more time with his wife, Claire. They will celebrate their 12th anniversary later this month – an anniversary date that coincides with the day Brad won one of his two Emmys.
“My brother was giving his best man speech at our wedding,” Galli said. “My boss, Tom Leyden, ran to my brother’s ear in the middle of his best man toast and my brother goes, ‘All right, well, I had more to say, but Brad just won an Emmy.’
“I had completely not thought at all about it. It’s your wedding night, you’re not thinking about Emmys.”
Galli has no ill will toward his bosses at WXYZ. He loved his time there.
But the job was not conducive to a family life.
Galli and his wife have two children: Matthew, 8; and Emma, 7.
“It was a hard decision because I wanted to work at Channel 7 for 50 years,” Galli said, while watching his son take batting practice. “I loved getting to represent the ‘Circle 7,’ and everything that it meant with the amazing people I got to work with. But, man, this isn’t like a corny answer, this is the truth. I have an amazing wife that I’ve known since we were in kindergarten. I like hanging out with her, and we have two kids that we love to death. I want to coach them, and I felt like my career could grow, and my time at home could also expand.”
That wasn’t going to happen when he was part of the 5, 6 and 11 p.m. news teams.
“The 11 o’clock news is critical still, I believe, to help people get local news,” he said. “But it wasn’t conducive to the family environment.”
Changing media landscape
I find this move fascinating on several levels.
First of all, it’s a huge personal decision to leave a destination job. But it’s also a reflection of how sports media has changed in such a profound way. It’s common to see independent journalists covering professional and college teams, in essence, becoming their own media company while putting out content on social media or YouTube.
“I went to the Final Four and local TV stations didn’t have a seat,” Galli said. “We didn’t have assigned seats for the Final Four, but I looked and there were about 40 independent media outlets that were there and they all had assigned seats better than me. That was a huge reminder to me that you’re doing the right thing, you’re going to be okay.”
He saw the same thing when he studied video clips of the day Tigers pitcher Tarik Skubal was interviewed about his return to the Tigers after pitching in the World Baseball Classic.
“I looked at all the mic flags,” Galli said. “It was Fox, some Major League Baseball internal stuff, and it was all independent media outlets.”
And that gave him some comfort that this is the right decision for him.
Rising to the top at Channel 7
Galli, a three-time honoree as Michigan Sportscaster of the Year by the National Sports Media Association, has taken a traditional route to this untraditional decision.
“I came to the realization in high school that I love sports, wanted to be around sports, but that I probably wasn’t going to play them professionally,” he said, with a chuckle. “’How can I stay involved?’ I asked myself.”
Galli, who grew up in Troy, started doing the daily announcements at Birmingham Brother Rice High School. Then, he went back to his grade school and announced basketball games.
“I grew comfortable with the microphone,” he said.
He went to Marquette University – the first person from his family to graduate from college – and was then hired by WXYZ at 21.
“I was an overnight associate producer for about a month,” he said. “I found out later they wanted to hire me for the sports department, but they didn’t want to hire me immediately out of college. My boss always told me, ‘I gave you a one-month buffer.’ And then I started working on the air.”
Four years later, he became a sports anchor when Leyden left to take a job in Boston.
“I grew up here [in Detroit],” Galli said. “I couldn’t get enough Red Wings content, Lions content, Pistons playoff coverage during those glory days, Tigers coverage. I mean, Michigan, Michigan State, all of it. I never could get enough, and that’s why I got into it.”
And that’s what he hopes he can continue in this new venture while fitting in plenty of family time.
Then, the interview ended, and he went back to watching his son’s baseball practice.
Contact Jeff Seidel at jseidel@freepress.com or follow him @seideljeff.
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Brad Galli is betting on himself leaving TV and heading to YouTube
Reporting by Jeff Seidel, Detroit Free Press / Detroit Free Press
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
